Half an hour after the party had arrived, all the customers looked as bad as I felt-- dreaded and annoyed that those kids would not stop screaming. Yami looked the most pissed of all, which made me very worried because he was the one person in that whole resturant who had the power to destroy everything in that vicinity. Kinda made me a little uneasy.

"I hate kids." I heard Yami grumble for the hundredth time. I sighed heavily and dropped my eyes to my knees. I was beginning to think the same thing. They were so annoying! Why would they not shut up? I was so stressed that I wanted to scream in anger as well as cry in frustration, hoping everything would just disappear. They were starting to give me a headache.

"Here you go." Came a cheery voice from above. The voice caught me off-guard and I looked up; the upbeat tone was definatly not the voice of my pharaoh. He was never peppy. My eyes met the bright and beautiful waitress from earlier. As I found myself smiling at her, I suddenly remembered why Yami disliked her in the first place. Precariously, I glanced back at my pharaoh. He was not angered and for that I was grateful. He was looking at the waitress, seeming to be fascinated by something.

"Tell me," He stated.

"Yes?" She smiled at him.

"Is it just me, or do you get paid to make people wait half an hour for their pizza?" The smile disappreared from the girl's face and I started feeling the nervousness overtake me again.

"Oh no." I whispered in dread.

"Or, is it just because you get your kinky kicks this way?"

The waitress looked on to the verge of tears, so I knew I had to do something-- and fast. Jumping up, I lunged across the table to wrap my hand over Yami's mouth. Shocked, he looked at me before that look of surprise turned into a glare.

Laughing as if this whole thing was a joke, I turned to the distressed waitress and waved this incident away with my free hand. "It's okay." I said. "Please don't pay attention to him. He's really stressed out from all the kids' noise." The girl nodded her head in understandment and I could see that she was despiratly trying to hold back her tears. "Thank you for the pizza. And you are doing a wonderful job." I smiled at her, an action which had no reflection on what I was feeling. I was depressed over this whole unfortunate date, but I knew I at least had to make her night a little better. My words and smile seemed to help her cheer up.

"Arigatou." She smiled back. She placed the pizza down on the table and I let my hand go of my pharaoh's mouth, sitting back into my seat. "I will bring your soda as soon as possible." With that, she smiled at me one last time, threw a cautionary glance at Yami and then hurried back to the kitchen. I sighed heavily, glad that one confrontation was over with, and I looked up. I saw Yami looking at me with shock eating at his features.

"What was that?" He finally asked. "Why did you do that, Yuugi?"

"Because you were going to make her cry."

"Cry, nothing!" he exclaimed. "She was the one who waited forever to give us the pizza!"

"That was not her fault!" I hissed. "If you want to yell at someone, yell at the people who make the pizzas! She has nothing to do with how long it takes to make them! Go yell at the cooks!" He stood as if he was about to do just that when I narrowed my eyes and pulled him back to his seat. Yami was surprised. My actons shocked me as well. I was usually such a nice and passive guy; perhaps stress made one as crazy as everyone says. After taking several deep breaths to calm myself down, I then completed what I was going to say to my yami. "She's just doing her job, alright? So please do not yell at her again."

"Fine." Yami said huffily. I knew that he was trying to sound very annoyed, but I also knew that he was finally listening to me and what I had to say. He was finally showing me some respect.

"Thank you." I said, grateful for his voluntary change in behavior-- even if he tried to pretend he was forced to do it. Smiling a little, I then reached out my hand and picked up a slice of pizza. The cheese slipped off the greasy dough and onto my hand before hitting the table top. For the first few seconds, I felt nothing and barely registered the fact that anything was on my hand. That was until my mind seemed to surge with pain as if my finger had been pricked with a needle or I had gotten a shot in my arm. Crying out, I dropped the pizza and brushed the cheese off my hand. It hurt so much and the burn was so awful that my hand was red where the cheese had been, but everything around that red blotchiness was pure milk white. I felt tears start to brim at the base of my eyes from the lingering pain.

"What are you doing?" I heard Yami inquire. Too afraid he was going to scold me because I did such a childish thing, I said nothing as I bowed my head. "Yuugi?" Yami reached out his hand and unknowingly placed his palm directly on the spot I had just burned myself.

"Ite!" I cried out, pulling my hand roughly away. I looked up at Yami and, our eyes locking for a moment, I could see my momentary reflection in his brilliant blue eyes. That was before my vision blurred to the waterfall of spilling tears.

"Yuugi!" Yami sounded truly concerned. He reached out his hand to take my burnt one again, but this time he was much more gentle. "Did you burn yourself?"

"Hai..." I spoke through the flowing of my tears. "Gome!"

"What are you apologizing for?" Yami asked, suddenly sounding annoyed. "You didn't do this on purpose. Lemme see here..." He examined the burn on my hand as, with my free arm, I wiped the tears off my cheeks and face. "You'll be okay." Yami finally determined before placing my hand down on the table. "It's just a little burn, but nothing that will not heal up on its own." I looked down at my hand and somehow the pain from the burn meant nothing; there was a new pain that was enveloping my heart. Yami did nothing. He did not kiss it or make any gesture to make me feel slightly better. I knew in the back of my mind that my thinking was quite irrational and similar to a teenage girl on PMS, but I was not allowed the luxury of thinking differently.

"That's it?" I asked as he was munching on his own piece of pizza. He looked at me, confused. My voice was a little raspy from the crying.

"Huh?"

"That's it?" I repeated. "You won't kiss it or touch it or do anything to it to make me feel better?"

Yami was still confused but getting angry from frustraion. "What do you want me to do, Yuugi? It's not like you have a broken leg or was shot. It's a little burn from pizza sauce. It's not that big of a deal."

"I would still like you to do something to make it feel better!"

"It was a tiny burn!" He exclaimed. "Why are you acting like this, Yuugi? I don't understand!"

"Because I got hurt and we're on a date! You should at least offer some consideration that I was burnt!" The next part I spoke with venom in my voice. "It does not matter that it was a little burn, my pharaoh." Yami was taken aback-- I as well. I was not sure what was wrong with me, but I knew that I did want Yami's attention. Perhaps I was being a little selfish, but all I wanted was for him to be nice to me on our date. I wanted him to shower me with affection and what had happened so far was anything but.

"Fine!" Yami said, looking and sounding a little hurt by the scrutiny and heinousness in my voice. This knowledge tugged at my heart strings and I immediately wanted to apologize, but my stubbornness would not let me. Picking up my hand, he raised it to his lips, stuck out his tongue and licked my burn like a kitten. My whole body froze and my face flushed. I was surprised to see that his cheeks were red as well, but from embarassment or love I could not decipher. Placing my hand slowly back on the table once again, he looked up at me. I wanted to reach across the table and kiss him-- a feeling that had never before been so strong. He was so beautiful and completely flushed from his act, I could not help myself. I started to draw closer to him and break the gap of the table between us and Yami seemed to do the same. We almost kissed when...

"I got your soda!" Instantly, we pulled away from each other and blushed even more. The now-bubbling waitress placed the pitcher of Pepsi we had wanted down on the table. Smiling, she looked at me and her eyes never left mine. I felt nervous, but I was more so worried about Yami. I sweat-dropped when I saw that Yami was scowling at her. Never once looking at Yami, she smiled at me and even poured me some soda before setting it down again. Taking something out of her waitress apron, she scribbled something down before handing it to me and skipping off to another table of hers, lost in the world of shoujo-bubbleness. Quite scared, I looked down at the note she left me. It said, "Call me sometime. You are so sweet and kawaii! My number is..." before I could read the numbers, Yami yanked it out of my hand and read it. Turning into crazed, almost murderous eyes, he spun around to glare at the girl. He stood up and started to march over to her. Scared of getting into a horrible confrontation, I jumped up from my booster seat and flew at Yami, jumping on his back and causing him to stop.

"Stop it, Yami-kun!" I pleaded.

"That girl..." he snarled, never taking his poisonous eyes off of her. "She hit on you. She dared treat me so awfully and she gave you her number!? She must be spoken to." My knowledge of my pharaoh led me to believe he would do more than simply 'talk' to the girl.

"Iie!" I cried out, my mind racing to think of a way to keep him from attacking her and sending her soul into the vile depths of the Shadow Realm. "It doesn't matter, does it?! I am not going to call her, Yami! I would not have asked her out on this date if I thought that I would fall for someone else!"

"You do not know her like I do!" Yami snapped. "She's evil! She wants you because you're mine!"

Sighing heavily, I still hung onto Yami's back. Jumping off, I faced him and pushed him away from the girl, standing inbetween them; which, in all respects, was not the smartest place to be. "Yami, first of all, you do not know her! Second of all, you need to stop watching Death Becomes Her! You were the one who took my DVD!" I shook my head; the DVD was not something that was important to scold him about at that moment. "I am not going to call her and, after this night, I think it is safe to assume that this will be the last time I ever see her again! So please do not get angry!" My pleading seemed to finally get to him and he looked at me. He seemed to calm down instantaneously and he nodded his head, allowing the two of us to return to our booth. We started eating our food in silence.

Then the real fun started.

I say that sarcastically, you realize.

"FOOD FIGHT!!!!!!" The noise of the birthday party had never worn down, but we had managed to void it from our minds as excess noise; you know, between me getting upset at my burn and trying to keep Yami from sending another innocent victim to the Shadow Realm... there just seemed no need to focus on the annoying ingrates they call children. But now, once again, there was reason for them to be on our minds. And that reason came in the little package known as hand-made pizza balls and blobs of cake as well as ice cubes from the drinks. And, for little kids, they had pretty good arms. I had half a mind to call some of the MLB team couches and ask them to recruit these kids.

That is, if I had any connections to those people.

And a cell phone. I would have needed one of those. But those rates are so high, it really would have not been worth it.

"Yuugi..." Yami growled. Taken out of my inner sarcastic thoughts, I looked at my pharaoh. He was shaking slightly and I knew that he was about to lose it. Dread filled me up from the inside. "I am going to hurt those kids..."

"Try to be patient." I said, although I knew it was hopless. I wanted to hurt them. Throw ice cream at them and down their backs and see how they liked it. But I tried to remain calm. Most of all, I tried to make Yami remain calm because an Ancient Pharaoh in the room with more detructive power than most (about the same as Anubus) and also equipped with Egyptian God Cards; I did not really feel like being at the front of the Sun tabloid, telling people how Armageddon did arrive in a little Pizza Hut just outside Domino City.

However, my attempts to keep him calm, cool and collected failed (once again) when some pizza was thrown in our direction and hit Yami with a splat on the face. Sliding down slowly, it left a smear of red pizza sauce on his right cheek. To my greatest relief, he remained seated and did not kill them all. My old friend, the temple vein had returned and his shaking of despirate self-control had worsened, but at least we were not all mangeled and left for dead.

At least not yet.

"Mm..." I said, trying to put a bright smile on my face, even I could tell was phony enough. "Pizza?" I picked up another slice, this time determined on it not burning my hand. Placing it on the table, it did smell so delicious. Knowing it was still too hot, I decided to eat it with a fork and a knife in small bites, as if I was trying to be sophisticated. I picked up my knife and my fork. But something came along for the ride with the fork. The whole pitcher of Pepsi had been placed accidentally on the head of the fork by the waitress. Not knowing this, I picked up the utensil and all the Pepsi fell and spilled onto me. Yami's jaw dropped open in genuine shock. I froze. Wet and cold from this encounter, I could feel ice cubes swimming in a puddle of Pepsi in my shirt. Feeling tears collect again, I could not help but want to bawl. This was so utterly embarrassing!!!! Once I got over my shock enough to move, I then stood up. My blue leather clothes clung to my body and squished as I walked. "I'm going to the bathroom." I muttered before I squished and 'squelched' my way back there.

In the bathroom, I let the tears fall. Clutching my fist, I leaned against the tiled walls and I sobbed within my curved arm. Everything about that night had been one catastophe after another and I could just not take it anymore. Hell, I swear the most happiest, peppiest, Mary-Poppins wannabe would have caved and gone to join a suicidal cult much time before if put through the same torture. I felt like Frodo Baggins, not being able to stand up against the power and strength of the Ring that wanted to destroy all life in Middle Earth. I could not take it! Once I had cleaned up and wiped away my tears, splashing some water on my face, I made my way back to Yami. My head bowed in shame and embarrassment, I was not aware that the party of screaming birthday kids were migrating towards the door, being rounded up like stray cattle. They were all shoved out of the resturaunt by the woman in charge, while she apologized to every other customer as they passed. I was almost to my seat when they were leaving and I was shoved into the mass. Scared and brought back to reality in a state of panic, I screamed at the woman.

"CHOTTOU MATTE!!!! I have to get back!!! I do not belong with you!"

"Yes, I know that." One of the chaperone mothers said off-handedly. "That's why we're taking you back to where you do belong-- to your home."

"No!" I tried to shove through them but proved unsuccessful. "I need to get back to my yami!"

Thinking I said something else, she smiled rather sweetly (well, as sweetly as she could in her present situation), "Yes. We're taking you back to your mommy."

"IIE!" I cried out. Realizing she was not going to listen or pay attention to me, I tried screaming for my pharaoh to hear. "YAMI!!!! YAMI, HELP ME!!!" Yami looked up from his food as I was shoved out the door.

"HIKARI!" He screamed in horror. He watched as I was shoved into a van and kidnapped at the parents got in and started up the engine. "HIKARI!!!!!!!!" Jumping over the table, he then ran out the door to the resturaunt, only to watch in terror the van driving away while I was plastered against the back of the window and screaming for him.

"YAMI!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ending notes: Muahahahahaha! ::laughs evilly until her cat, Vegeta, slaps her:: So, to recap: Yuugi is kidnapped by the diranged birthday party people and Yami needs to save him (obviously). Will he make it!? Oh, the SUSPENSE!!!!! Muahahahaha! ::ducks as Vegeta neko-kun tries to hit her again:: Please review and I will (hopefully) be able to update very soon!!! Enjoy!!! And, special thanks to Cyeshinni for helping me (again) and early thanks for her help on the next chapter. But more important thanks to Smitty because she is who this story is for. I love you, Smitty!!!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!